Exploring Adolescents’ Multimodal Responses to The Kite Runner: Understanding How Students Use Digital Media for Academic Purposes

Abstract

This qualitative study explores how adolescent high school students in an AP English class used multiple forms of media (the Internet, digital video, slide show software, video editing tools, literary texts, and writing) to respond to and analyze a contemporary novel, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. Using a multimodal analysis framework, the author explores the following question: How are stu-dents' multimodal retellings with literary devices mediated by the text, the choice of compositional tool, and the use of different modes? The findings of this study can be used to shape our understanding of adolescents' multimodal composition practices in academic settings.